The present disclosure relates generally to inkjet printing systems. In some types of inkjet printers the imaging system is held stationary while the print media is held on a shuttle plate or platen and swept through the printzone. This type of system offers some speed advantages over some other printers that move both the inkjet pens and the media. However, this architecture requires that the media be held down upon a shuttle plate in order to maintain accurate PPS (pen to paper spacing) and accurate control of the media.
The print media is often held to the shuttle plate by vacuum pressure. When the printing operation is complete, the media is ejected from the shuttle plate using mechanical rockers. In order to eject the print media from the shuttle plate, the rockers must overcome the downward vacuum pressure force exerted upon the media. For larger media sizes, this force can become quite large (since force equals pressure times area) and cause the rockers to deflect. In such cases the media may end up breaking the vacuum and lifting off the plate, but the stored energy in the rockers can cause a slingshot effect, which causes loss of control of the media and can ultimately lead to media jams.